0:02

Thirteen days of Halloween is a production

0:05

of I heart radio, Blumhouse television

0:07

and grim and mild from Aaron mankey

0:09

headphones recommended. Listener discretion

0:12

advised. Good

0:25

evening, friend, welcome

0:28

to the Sunset Lounge. Won't

0:30

you join me at the bar a

0:34

live astion? I've

0:36

just the thing here. The architect,

0:39

though possessing a sober mind, wasn't

0:41

a pot of a little tipple here and there. He

0:46

inherited this particular spirit from

0:48

a small tavern in Nantucket, which

0:51

was, in its day, quite popular

0:53

with the types of men who spent their lives

0:55

to see. The owner,

0:58

Nathaniel Mulgrave, was

1:00

a stingy type, particularly when

1:02

it came to the fairer sex, particularly

1:05

when it came to his bar maid, Oh

1:09

Lilian, Long Auburn

1:11

hair and eyes that changed color

1:14

with the mood of the ocean, an

1:17

ethereal laugh that she gave freely

1:19

to anyone willing to earn it, and

1:22

men who worked to earn it

1:24

all the time. and

1:28

One night a young sailor arrived

1:30

in the tavern, causing Lilian to squeal

1:33

with delight. A jealous chill

1:36

overtook Nathaniel, who wasted

1:38

no time but poisoned a bottle

1:40

of fine Oloroso with a small

1:42

dram of arsenic that he kept for the

1:45

rats. He brought it to the young man,

1:47

saying a friend of Lilian's,

1:50

before returning to the bar to wait.

1:54

The sailor turned out to be Lilian's

1:56

brother and quite a good man.

1:59

And then, the end of the night a dozen were

2:01

dead, including the beloved Lilian.

2:05

Nathaniel has tried and executed, of course. Oh

2:08

No, don't, don't worry. This isn't

2:11

that bottle of all a rods. DRINK

2:16

UP, drink up. Oh

2:18

Bravo, Mitch, Bravo.

2:22

Oh God, I cannot

2:24

wait to Entrin to so, Mitch

2:27

de Hup, this is my

2:29

friend who is simply

2:32

dying to hear your tale. Ah,

2:35

if you'll excuse me, listen.

2:44

It's naturally you can stop

2:46

me right here. Just get up and

2:48

walk away. It's okay, because

2:51

what I'm about to tell you is

2:54

a key. The

2:56

key. There are lots of door

2:58

to a place there. I shouldn't be.

3:02

I once that door is open, that's

3:04

no closing it again. All

3:08

right, I can't say I didn't

3:10

warn you. This

3:14

was quite a few years back now. Friday

3:17

night after work me and the rest of the sales

3:19

department hit our favorite water and hole to kick off

3:21

the weekend. The

3:25

last call. I wasn't hammering

3:28

my show. I wasn't ready to drive. You

3:30

know the drill I want to take

3:33

home. I don't want to go back home

3:35

to. Eventually,

3:37

it was just me, bartender

3:41

and him,

3:47

this guy. I want to look at

3:49

him, man, you get it. Being

3:52

as I was raised to avoid a drop down on

3:54

this luck, I made sure to

3:56

avoid eye contact. But screw

3:58

the pouch when I lit up a cigaret at me, but

4:01

of course this fool asked me for one. Then

4:04

a light. Next

4:06

thing I know, he's camped

4:09

out on the store next to me with a

4:11

fresh double. Right

4:14

off the bat, he asked me for a ride

4:16

to his car down the block. I

4:19

tell him maybe the walk with doing some good. M

4:22

H. He grasped

4:25

my wrists like we're on the first state of the

4:27

horrid moone there

4:31

waiting, waiting, the children.

4:34

His eyes, bowls were terror the

4:38

children with

4:40

eyes as

4:42

it started this night, I

4:47

remember those words exactly as

4:50

a startled to night. The

4:52

poetry of it threw me off. I

4:54

was listening when I should have been walking. He

4:58

told me now. A few nights

5:00

ago he was at this bar

5:04

a few over from the one we were at. When

5:07

the place closed, he made

5:10

his way to his car, got in

5:13

and before he could start it up, there

5:16

was a tapping on his window. He

5:19

looked up. Two

5:22

kids stood there, teenagers.

5:25

They looked weird, Pale

5:28

white skin, long black

5:30

hair, with the toss of their faces hidden

5:32

beneath White Brim hats. Excuse

5:36

me to

5:40

give us all

5:42

right, please.

5:46

Normally he would have just flipped

5:48

him off and floored it, but

5:50

suddenly he was overcome with confusion.

5:54

Then it struck terror that

5:56

seized him. On a biologicalge not

5:59

that these kids look her particularly dangerous, but

6:01

on a gut level something was off,

6:05

something was wrong, real wrong.

6:08

He tried to leave, but there was

6:10

a ringing in his ears, the hum

6:12

of an invisible engine feeding

6:15

his skull electricity and panic. Yeah,

6:24

as one

6:26

of them demanded, and he was about

6:28

to give reaching for the lock on

6:30

the passenger side, he noticed

6:32

their eyes started

6:36

started to night. I started

6:38

tonight. How kind of myth right

6:40

there, down my beer

6:43

without a word walked out the bar. By

6:49

the time I got to my car, I was

6:51

curious. It's

6:54

like a car wreck. You know

6:56

there's nothing to see, but I gotta

6:58

see it for yourself anyway. Mh. I

7:01

come up on his car, slow

7:04

down, scope the scene.

7:08

No one there. Everything

7:13

he told me. It was just a bunch of two

7:16

shadows stepped from around

7:19

the car into the light. Still

7:22

knew better than the God, but I

7:25

couldn't help myself. Something

7:27

in the way they moved. Nice

7:30

sleep walkers, played

7:32

at the wrong speed. I

7:34

found myself transfixed. It

7:38

was like watching someone else's bad dream.

7:42

Next thing I know they stepping in

7:44

front of my car, into my head. I said him up. I

7:47

veered around them and put the pellets of

7:49

the metal. I

7:53

looked in the rear view mirror. No

7:56

alms there. Got

8:02

Home, pop open another

8:04

beer, passed out in front of TV.

8:08

In the story, so

8:14

I thought. Welcome

8:18

to the power flickering on and off, plans

8:22

to sleeping, then

8:25

going dead, then

8:27

beeping again. I

8:31

lay there for I

8:33

don't know how long, unable

8:36

to go back to sleep, but

8:39

eventually I

8:41

began to drift off. I

8:45

drawed awake, wait

8:48

to see if it was a dream.

8:51

Lay Back Down, pretended to be asleep, hoping

8:54

whoever it was would would take a hint

8:56

and piss off, grabbed

9:00

my phone, turned on the flashlight.

9:02

Out I found a baseball

9:05

bad stashed by my bed and made

9:07

my way to the front door. M

9:09

Hmm, stood there. Who

9:12

is it? He tell

9:16

me. Our carts

9:19

are a lot of trouble.

9:22

You have to open

9:25

the door please.

9:29

There was an urgency in the voice that

9:32

that I couldn't refuse. I

9:34

brought the bat against the wall, ensuring it

9:36

was it was in grabbing distance. Ben

9:41

My hand. Shaking Open

9:43

door, I raising a flashlight

9:48

from behind the screen door. A

9:50

little boy and an equally little

9:52

girl stood there, shouting

9:55

their faces from the glare. You have

9:58

to let us there

10:02

was something off about them. They

10:04

didn't move except to keep the life

10:06

from their eyes. When I asked

10:08

them what happened, they just repeated the same

10:10

words us.

10:14

Yeah, I caught

10:17

a whiff of something, stench

10:19

of rotten. Next, but more accurate,

10:22

and just then, my grain knife

10:25

jasp me between the eyes. Please

10:31

you yere

10:35

us. Then I heard

10:37

it humming in my ears, surge

10:40

of power thriving through the skull, drowning

10:43

out my thoughts. M

10:46

Hm oh,

10:54

suddenly I can't help myself.

10:57

Of course I would let them in, and

11:00

all made perfect sense. Just

11:02

as I reached for the screen door to unlock it,

11:05

I phone it up their faces and

11:09

there was eyes

11:11

the starllars night. I

11:15

snapped out of it slammed

11:17

the door down. That won one.

11:23

All of a sudden my

11:25

phone's got no service. The

11:28

powers how many of my skull again? It

11:30

was making me dizzy and I stumbled

11:32

back. They stood there

11:35

knocking on the door until dawn. That's

11:38

when the power came back home, my

11:41

phone started working again and

11:44

they went away. I

11:48

almost called out sick, but I

11:50

was too freaked out to stay home alone. I

11:53

worked through the day and the more

11:55

I dwelled on him, the more I realized

11:57

that it must have been a nightmare,

12:00

not the war. Until

12:02

the next night, that buzzing

12:06

noise in my skull again. I

12:12

know, yeah,

12:15

yeah, they

12:18

were standing in the bushes outside my window.

12:21

They clawed at the glass and then

12:24

try and open in the window. When

12:26

that didn't work, I can hear them

12:28

scirting around, making their way through the

12:30

backyard searching

12:33

from our opening. They kept

12:35

at it until down and

12:38

then disappeared. I

12:42

knew if I phoned the costly just I

12:44

just think I was crazy. So

12:46

I called my therapist told

12:51

her my story in detail. She

12:53

told me I was just a victim of a

12:55

prank, but agreed to pounce me

12:58

in the next day. That

13:00

night I finally slept free

13:02

of any interruptions. When

13:05

I showed up for my session the following afternoon,

13:08

my therapist hand shown up and wasn't

13:11

returning any calls. I

13:13

think I knew even then what happened later

13:17

back home, the power

13:19

died again, and

13:21

right on cue, only

13:25

this time they knocked on the

13:27

door to my bedroom. They

13:29

rattled the door now told

13:32

me they knew I could hear them,

13:34

that I needed open the door let

13:36

the men. I

13:38

could hear them rummaging around my home, knocking

13:42

on different walls, making their

13:44

way to the to add it to Claude

13:46

the ceiling. All night it went

13:48

on. I didn't know what to

13:50

do, but we called my best friend.

13:55

I told him everything. Begged

13:57

him to come over that night to

14:00

wait with me, to prove me crazy,

14:02

you're saying. Reluctantly,

14:05

my request was granted. He promised

14:07

to come by after work that

14:10

night. He didn't show up, and

14:13

neither did the black eyed children. That's

14:17

when I figured it out. Being

14:20

invaded not just

14:23

our nation, but the whole

14:25

damn planet. They're not

14:27

traveling here, no UFO, or there's

14:30

some gateway to hell like in the

14:32

movies. H M

14:35

HMM. They

14:37

come here their stories,

14:40

stories about children, eyes

14:44

starvus night that, once

14:47

heard, opens the door for them

14:50

to the listeners world. But

14:52

there's a way out. Oh

14:54

Yea to do. Let's passed the story

14:56

along to some other

14:58

poor sucker. Only

15:01

then did they let you sleep,

15:04

but only for a night. It

15:07

provides incentive for you to find

15:09

an audience for them, an audience

15:12

for them to enter our world through. which

15:15

brings me to

15:18

you. I know

15:20

you don't believe me, at

15:22

least not until they come knocking

15:24

on your door, but when

15:26

they do, you have a choice

15:29

to make. Let them

15:31

in or tell their

15:35

story.

15:40

M H

16:12

tragic? No, but there

16:14

he sits every evening

16:17

until the sun departs to

16:20

night. He'll continue on well past

16:22

the witching hour, and that's thanks

16:24

to you. So much power

16:26

exists in the simple act of

16:29

listening. A

16:32

word of warning to you. If

16:34

to night you hear a knock on

16:36

your door, perhaps best

16:38

to let them believe that you're not in. Just

16:41

roll over and go back to sleep, no

16:44

matter how insistent they may become well,

16:48

my friend, you look tired

16:51

and the evening does seem to be wearing

16:53

on. We have much yet

16:55

to explore in the days ahead if we're going

16:58

to find that door. One

17:00

more thing. You'll find complimentary

17:03

air plugs in the washroom cabinet. That

17:06

is safe than sorry. How

17:08

do you make flights

17:11

of Angels Sing

17:13

Thee to Thy Wrist? Thirteen

17:22

days of Halloween was created by Matt Frederick

17:24

and Alex Williams and executive produced

17:26

by Aaron Manky, starring Keegan Michael

17:29

Key as the caretaker. Today's

17:32

story was written by Robert Mosca, performed

17:34

by Jason Williams and directed by Matt

17:36

Frederick, with editing and sound designed by

17:39

Trevor Young, additional writing and script

17:41

supervision from Nicholas Dakowski casting

17:43

by Jessica loser. Only

17:46

eight days remain. Tomorrow

17:49

another story. Sometimes

17:53

newborn children open their eyes and see

17:55

the sun or Bright Blue Star in the darkness

17:58

and they think it sees them as well and

18:01

they smile and they are beautiful.

18:05

For some people, he said, it's a day, a

18:08

night on the water, a graduation walk,

18:10

a glory. That was their room.

18:13

For some people it's a moment and

18:16

they often do not see it when it happens. To

18:19

see it to be seen. They

18:22

look back years later and they think I

18:26

was beautiful. Thirteen

18:30

days of Halloween is a production of I heart radio,

18:33

Blumhouse television and grim and mild

18:35

from Aaron Bankey. For more podcasts

18:37

from my heart radio, visit the I heart radio

18:39

APP, apple podcasts or wherever you

18:42

listen to your favorite shows, and learn

18:44

more about thirteen days of Halloween at

18:46

grim and mild dot com.